"Everyone, defend the Hidden Village to the death! Burn with the Will of Fire and light the way for those who come after us!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was flushed, his voice passionate and stirring as he raised his arm in a rallying cry.

Whoosh—

Before his words had even fallen,

the sound of air being split rang out.

A pitch-black figure lunged toward Hiruzen, incredibly fast—swift as lightning.

It wore black clothing, its face strange, eyes a scarlet red, skin rough like wood, joints creaking with every move, and possessing the limbs and head of a human—

like a small, thin monkey.

"Puppet technique… Rasa, you despicable man!" Hiruzen's pupils shrank sharply, his expression changing as he roared in fury.

In an instant, the puppet spread its limbs like a facehugger, attempting to latch onto Hiruzen's aged face.

Then, sharp daggers sprang from each of its limbs, stabbing straight for his eyes.

Hiruzen dodged backward, and while falling through the air, his hands formed seals and he spat out flames:

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

The fire-natured chakra instantly made the air sweltering. Flames erupted, changing form, condensing at the tip into a fiery dragon's head.

The dragon's face twisted in a ferocious snarl before crashing into the puppet, scorching it with high heat.

But to Hiruzen's surprise, even as the puppet burned, it hurled several sharp kunai toward him.

"Damn it!"

Hiruzen's face grew grim as he landed and quickly dodged aside.

Whoosh—

He was already in a sorry state, and in the midst of his rolling evasions, the last tuft of hair on his head was shorn clean off by one of the kunai.

At that moment—

On Konoha's wooden walls, the village's shinobi clashed with the surging tide of Iwa-nin, Kumo-nin, and Suna-nin!

The sounds of slaughter, clashing ninja tools, exploding tags, and colliding jutsu echoed to the skies.

At the rear of the Suna ranks,

Rasa stood upon a tree, casting a sidelong glance at the Hiruzen who had narrowly escaped the puppet master's ambush. He gave a cold snort in his heart:

"If I don't act now, when it comes time to divide the Land of Fire, I'll be left sipping soup."

"Besides, Kumo and Iwa have already moved. There's no reason for Suna to pretend to be righteous."

"Perish here, Konoha!"

Rasa's eyes reflected the raging inferno of battle. He raised his hand and gave the order:

"Puppet brigade, enter Konoha! Head east, straight to the Hokage Building!"

"Yes, sir!"

The puppet masters, who had been hiding in the shadows with chakra threads extending from their fingers, began to move.

Each controlled a puppet, killing Leaf shinobi without lifting a hand themselves.

Some even controlled two puppets at once, their combined power far greater than the sum of their parts.

As for why Rasa sent them toward the Hokage Building—it was, of course, to seize resources first, to plunder wealth and forbidden jutsu scrolls.

At this moment, Konoha's protective barrier still existed, though the main gate had collapsed.

The honeycomb-patterned barrier was pushed to its limits, but as long as chakra was poured into it, it could be restored.

Even if the gate had fallen, the Barrier Corps continued doing their utmost to repair it.

Ōnoki and the Raikage had yet to move personally. The two stood far apart, on roughly the same line—though Ōnoki floated in the air.

They deliberately refrained from ordering their subordinates to loot, letting the impatient Rasa send his Suna-nin to probe the way.

Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin poured through Konoha's main gate, while many Suna-nin attacked from the flanks, slowing the barrier's repairs.

The three great villages coordinated seamlessly—

as if they had already envisioned dividing the Land of Fire and Konoha countless times in secret.

"Damn it! Hold the line! Don't let them break through!" A Leaf shinobi had barely shouted—

when an Iwa-nin and a Kumo-nin leapt forward, each unleashing their specialty ninjutsu, ending his life on the spot.

Scenes like this played out constantly at Konoha's gates. Life was harvested like weeds.

Most Leaf shinobi fought one against two—or even three—often dying in a single exchange.

Hiruzen and Mitokado Homura joined the main battlefield, but the results were meager.

All they could do was pray that Koharu finished the Edo Tensei quickly—otherwise, Konoha would fall today.

Half an hour later—

The first defensive line at Konoha's gates collapsed.

Of more than six thousand Leaf shinobi, over twenty percent had fallen. Hiruzen immediately gave the order to retreat.

The Konoha forces pulled back to the second defensive line, centered around the Uchiha district's outskirts, engaging the invaders in street-to-street combat.

As the Konoha shinobi fell back in defeat—

Hiruzen was the first to retreat to a rooftop in the streets, shouting:

"Earth Style! Water Style! Fire Style—prepare!!"

The moment the words fell—

The more than four thousand Konoha ninja stationed at the second defensive line all simultaneously revealed themselves.

They formed hand seals in unison, unleashing various elemental jutsu to block the ninja from the Three Great Villages.

In an instant, mountains crumbled and the earth split, waves surged, and seas of fire roared—forming a terrifying defensive wall.

The enemy ninja from the Three Great Villages were helpless for the moment, forced to avoid the brunt of the assault.

Until—

A sudden gap appeared in Konoha's second defensive line. Ōnoki, the Raikage, and Rasa struck.

The three of them easily broke through the wall of elemental techniques, tearing an opening in the second defensive line and mercilessly slaughtering the Konoha ninja who tried to delay them.

"Lord Hokage… the second defensive line won't last twenty minutes!"

"Damn it! Where's the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart burned with urgency as he kept glancing toward the Root base's defensive line.

If the second defensive line collapsed, even street battles wouldn't be able to stall the Three Great Villages.

Hiruzen would then have no choice but to lead his people in a last stand at the Root base. As for the Hokage Building and the civilian shelters…

Konoha no longer had the strength to protect its people.

Such was the cruelty of war.

For the sake of final victory, Hiruzen could only gamble everything on the Impure World Reincarnation—abandoning the ordinary citizens.

"Lord Hokage, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki has already been taken to the Root base by the ANBU!" a messenger ninja reported.

Hiruzen said in a deep voice, "Good. Pull the defensive line back toward the Root base. Buy us as much time as possible!"

"Y–Yes!"

The Konoha ninja withdrew.

Once the defenses completely fell,

Konoha's only option would be to unleash the Nine-Tails.

For Hiruzen, this was the last resort to buy time—there was no other choice.

…

On the eastern side of Konoha, this area had not yet been attacked, and the barrier remained intact.

This side faced the cliff of the Hokage Rock and was relatively close to the Hokage Building.

At that moment, a squad of Sunagakure puppet masters had already skirted along the village's edge to the east, intending to be the first to invade the Hokage Building and plunder resources.

Houses lined the streets, neatly arranged.

Power poles, exposed piping, air conditioning units, surveillance cameras, water storage tanks—

Everywhere they looked, the technology on display was proof of Konoha's wealth.

"If we take Konoha, maybe we could live in a place like this, free from wind and sand."

"Yeah… our children wouldn't have to suffer. They'd have endless water to drink, take baths every day, wash their clothes whenever they wanted."

The Suna puppet masters stood at the edge of the eastern street, gazing around in awe.

Leading this unit was the Sunagakure jōnin Maki—his face fierce and menacing, white cloth wrapped around his head, the left side of his face hidden beneath the bandage, the right side marked with red paint, wearing the sand-yellow armor of Suna.

Just as the squad advanced—

Maki suddenly sensed danger from behind. He whipped his head around, eyes widening.

The other puppet masters also turned to look.

°°°

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